i'll always be there for you
by happyday girl
Summary: captain John hart comes back to wales and nearly kills ianto. as ianto lays in a hospital bed, is this enough for jack to realise his true feelings for him? contains swearing and blood


'Ianto, I think you have a customer.' Said Gwen as she came into the hub, she had been through the tourist office, but had to come back as she saw a man had followed her in, and she couldn't exactly flick the switch and stroll into torchwood when someone was there. Ianto sighed. 'I thought I had put up the closed sign this morning' he finished handing round the morning coffee, then bounded up the stairs. He reached the tourist office, and went behind the desk. 'sorry to keep you waiting sir' he said pleasantly to the man in front of him. 'may I help you?' the man looked scared. He looked at the door nervously, then cleared his throat. 'the man across the street asks that you step outside for a moment, and come alone. That's all he said' he finished breathlessly. Ianto listened to him,

'and what does this man look like sir' he said, pressing the switch that allowed audio feeds from the tourist office into the hub. He knew that the other's would be listening now

'um, he was wearing a red jacket, and he had brown hair, but I don't know anything else- I don't know anything....' he said. Ianto stood up, making the man jump slightly. He put his hand on his shoulder. 'okay, now what you do is walk out of here, and when you get out of sight, run as fast as you can until you get home, do you understand.' The man nodded, and he ran out of the shop as fast as he could. Ianto sighed. ' I said _walk_ out of here, then _run_' he muttered. He touched his Bluetooth in his ear. ' did you guys get that?' he asked. Jack answered

'we sure did Ianto, I'm coming up'

'but he said that I had to go out alone' interjected Ianto

'so?'

'_so_, don't you'd think it would be better if I went out.....alone' he said. He heard jack sigh.

'okay, but I'll be watching you all the way. Be safe'

'oh jack, aren't I always?' said Ianto with a smile. He went to his desk, pulled out a drawer and took out his torchwood issue handgun.

Owen snorted. 'since when did he have a gun in a drawer?'

'since I told him to' said jack from his side, who was the with the team watching the footage from the tourist office from tosh's computer. They watched as Ianto put it into the holster under his suit shirt, then he walked out. Tosh switched cctv feeds, and they watched him walk out his shop, and stop just outside.

Ianto looked around. He couldn't see anybody that he recognised. He walked a little further forward, then he heard tosh shriek in his ear. 'behind you!' Ianto didn't have time to turn when he was pushed into an alleyway that lead out towards the plass. He was shoved headfirst into a brick wall, and he felt his left arm being pushed up quite painfully on his back. 'eye candy- we meet again' came a cocky voice from behind him.

'Ianto? Ianto come in!' said jack into his earpiece. No answer. 'right, I'm going up there' he said, putting his gun into his own holster, 'wait jack, you might get Ianto hurt!' said Owen. Jack turned to him. 'didnt you just see that! He was pushed into an alley way! Anything could be happening to him right now!' he ran up to the cog door, and went out as soon as it had opened. Owen ran to it as well. 'wait for me!' he said. He turned to the girls. 'analyse the footage, I want to know who that was!' before they could answer, he was out of the door to. Gwen and tosh looked at each other, then they hurridley began to look through the cctv feeds again.

'john! What do you want now!' said Ianto in an exasperated voice. Right now he was more annoyed than worried. Captain john hart snickered. 'eye candy, I am here to destroy jack, and I have found my perfect weapon!'

'what?'

'you!' said john with glee, wrenching Ianto's arm so hard he felt his shoulder dislocate, he tried not to shout out, but he couldn't help it. john turned him around and pushed him into the wall hard. 'no shouting please eye candy!' he scolded him, then he smiled. Suddenly john was kissing him, hard, he could feel his teeth cutting into his gums and the skin of his lips. Ianto shut his mouth and tried not to do anything, but john shoved his forehead into Ianto's and he yelled in shock and pain, and john kissed his harder. Ianto lifted his knee and pushed it into john's abdomen. John hissed, and threw Ianto from him, and he crashed into some bins. John was just about to jump on him, when he heard a yell from behind him. He could tell it was jack and couldn't keep the smile off his face. He turned to face jack, and was surprised to see Owen was there too. 'hey guys' he said in a mock American voice. Owen snorted very unkindly. John's smiled faltered. 'I expect your wondering why I am here? Well, I am here because I am going to tear your world apart, starting with- eye candy here!' he said, gesturing at Ianto. He knelt down beside him. Jack cocked him weapon. 'leave him alone!' he growled. 'no' he said simply. He seized a handful of Ianto's hair and pulled his head back, Ianto gasped in pain, and Owen jolted fowards. John took out a knife. 'no, no one is going to interrupt this!' he put the blade to Ianto's neck lightly. Jack flinched. 'john let him go, we can talk!' john laughed manically, he turned to jack. 'do you really think talking is going to help now? No- this is the time for action.' He pulled Ianto head to his level, and directed his head at jack. 'you see him?' he gestured with the knife he had. Ianto nodded duly. He had to play along with john, that was how it worked with him. 'he- has destroyed so many lives, messed up with so many heads, including mine, and you think you are an exception?' he looked at Ianto, who didn't look at him back. 'you think, just because he says that he loves you, that he actually does? Well, I've got a newsflash for you eye candy- he doesn't, he doesn't love you, he doesn't love me, he doesn't love anyone, just get that into your stupid head'. Ianto looked at jack, who shook his head. John snarled. He produced a small knife, and jammed it into Ianto's shoulder. Ianto screamed in agony, pain jolting through his arm. Jack aimed his gun, john sneered, 'come on then- if you love him so much shoot me!' he challenged him. Jack knew exactly what he was going to do. He shot john in the shoulder, and ran to Ianto, who was gasping for breath, frantically trying to pull the blade out of his shoulder. Owen knelt down next to him. 'no don't pull it out Ianto, you'll make it worse' he said, then he helped him to stand. Ianto looked for jack, and jack held his arms out, Ianto fell into them, burying his face in his shoulder, being careful not to hurt his shoulder. Jack held him for his own comfort as well as Ianto's. What john had said was wrong, and he needed to make sure that Ianto understood that. He took Ianto's tearstained face in his hands. 'Ianto, I love you, I have never felt like this about anyone else, I love you, and I promise I wont mess with your head' he said with a coy smile. Ianto grinned, and jack pressed his forehead against Ianto's both men seeking comfort from this small gesture. Suddenly, they heard a groan from behind them. John aimed his gun and fired, hitting his target. Then he slumped onto the floor. Ianto shuddered, then fell into jack's arms, sliding down his body and onto the pavement. Jack yelled in shock. He threw himself to the floor to see Ianto. He had a bullet wound in his stomach, and Ianto was loosing a lot of blood. Owen yelled and ran to Ianto, pulling off his shirt in the process, jack did the same and handed it to Owen. He put them both together and used them to put pressure on the wound, trying to stem the blood flow. Ianto gargled blood, it looked like he was trying to say something. Jack lent in so he could here. 'I....love....you.....jack' he said, before closing his eyes. Jack started to cry, tears streaming from his eyes and hitting Ianto's beautiful chissled face. Owen pushed him gently aside. 'jack, go and get an ambulance, he's going to die if we don't do something!' he said urgently but quietly. He looked at tea boy, his face contorting through fresh waves of pain. Jack ran into the street, people turned and stared when they saw the crying man who had his shirt off and blood all on his hands. He took no notice and ran to the tourist information shop. He used the phone on Ianto's desk. Ianto's desk..... . he wept openly waiting for the phone to be answered. He told them the location and they said they would be there as soon as they could. Jack thanked them and ended the call.

'jack? What's happened, whose blood is that?' he looked up, startled to see Gwen standing in the doorway.

'it's Ianto, john shot him' he said, and he ran to the door, to be with Ianto, the man he loved. Gwen clapped her hands to her mouth and called down to tosh, and then she followed jack out. She followed him to the alleyway, and she let out a small scream when she saw the scene in front of her. Owen was frantically performing CPR on Ianto, who had stopped breathing, and was shouting desperately at him. 'DON'T YOU DARE TEA BOY! DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE GIVE UP ON ME!' he shouted at him through tears that clouded his vision, he couldn't see anything. he started to cry, loud cry's that echoed through the alleyway. Jack, who was holding Ianto's hand, put a hand on Owen's arm. Owen continued to pump Ianto's heart as the ambulance crew arrived.

Jack paced the hospital corridors. He hated pacing, but he did it whenever he was nervous, and boy was he nervous. He looked at Owen, who had went with him in the ambulance, while Gwen and tosh went in tosh's car. Owen was staring into space, Ianto's blood on his face and on his hands. Jack went to him, and Owen automatically stood up. They looked at each other for a moment, then Owen broke down and jack swept him into a hug. 'I don't even like him!' Owen gasped in between sobs. Jack smiled. 'yeah you do, you like him very much!' Owen sniffed.

'yeah, I do- jack he's just another one I couldn't save I couldn't do anything!' he wept again for a good few minutes, and jack manoeuvred him back onto the hospital bench, and jack spent the next fifteen minuted holding Owen, stroking his hair as he sobbed his heart out. When he had calmed a bit, jack said. 'hey..... he's not dead yet. Don't give up on him, he'll be fine'

'will he jack?' Owen asked miserably. 'can you actually say one hundred percent that he'll be fine'

'no' jack replied honestly. 'it's the beleife that counts'

'beleif' repeated Owen. 'I gave up on that in my first week of my doctor training!'

Jack laughed. He stopped when he saw a doctor coming towards them. Owen quickly got off jack, and they both stood up. 'are you mr Ianto jones's next of kin' he asked them. Jack shook his head. 'but I'm his boyfreind' he told him, he looked at Owen, who smiled encouragingly. The doctor smiled. 'ok, do you know his family contact number?'

'no, why?' asked Owen, afraid of the answer 'Is Ianto ok?' the doctor sighed.

'the signs aren't good im afraid to tell you, but we are doing all we can for him, he's lost a lot of blood. He is critical but stable. We've had to put him in a medically induced coma. You can see him now' jack and Owen exchanged nervous glances, then followed the doctor into Ianto's room. Jack gasped when he saw him. He was ghostly white, but he looked like he was sleeping. jack shook himself. He was in a coma, of course he would be sleeping. he wasn't _dead_. Jack shuddered at the thought. He pulled a chair to near Ianto's head, and stroked his face tenderly, pushing strands of hair behind his ear. Ianto loved him doing that, in the early morning, when jack got up first, he would sometimes just watch Ianto sleep, marvelling about how someone could make such a simple task as sleeping become an art form. Jack grinned as he listened to Ianto snuffle in his sleep. He was so sweet when he did that. He played with a strand of Ianto's hair before placing it behind his ear. He could swear that Ianto had just smiled- in his sleep? Hm........

Jack was pulled out of his day dream when Owen placed a hand on his shoulder.

'do you want a cup of tea jack, you haven't eaten or drank for ages now' jack nodded dumbly.

'please' he said. Owen smiled sadly at Ianto before walking out. He walked down the corridor, and turned to go to the coffee vending machine, when he walked straight into tosh. 'Owen! How's Ianto, where is he, the nurses wouldn't tell us anything' he gestured and Gwen and Rhys, who were just behind her. Owen pointed at Rhys. 'why is he here?' he demanded, tosh frowned.

'my car broke down, that's why we're quite late, in the end Gwen phoned Rhys and picked us up and he brought us here' Owen nodded, trying to take it all in, but his minds felt overloaded. He had thought's only for Ianto right now. He sighed. 'Ianto is critical but stable, he's in a coma that the doctor's have put them in a coma, but medically, I think that he will pull through'

'that's fantastic!' beamed tosh. 'can we go and see him?' she added. Owen nodded.

'but jack's with him, so...'

'ok, we get it' said Gwen, and she shimmied Owen to take them to where Ianto was. Jack was still holding Ianto's hand and was whispering to Ianto, and he smiled to the girls and Owen when they came through the door. 'can he hear me?' he asked Owen. Owen shrugged.

'I'm not sure, because he's been put into a deep sleep, I think that he's out for the count, but then again, he might be able to hear you' he said. They all looked down as Ianto groaned.

'is he ok?' asked jack worridley to the room at large. Owen went over to Ianto and looked him over, 'it's looks like.....' he said whilst prodding him. 'that's he's waking up' he went out side to get a nurse, then came back and watched as Ianto coughed and opened his bleary eyes. The first thing Ianto saw was jack's worried face staring at him. He smiled weakly at him. And jack seemed to deaflate. He tenderly hugged Ianto. 'don't you ever do that to me again mr jones, do you hear?' he whispered to him. Ianto nodded, when jack put him gently back down on the bed, he looked at Owen. He tried to speak, but he found that he couldn't because he had the feeding tube in his mouth going down his throat. Owen leant forwards and gently eased it out. Ianto swallowed a few times before coming out with a very dry and drawn out, 'thank you Owen' Owen pulled a chair and set it down on the other side of Ianto. He gently cuffed his shoulder, 'don't be silly mate' he said quietly, a tear falling down his cheek. Ianto raised his arm and thumbed the tear away, Owen smiled at him, then coughed, and moved back a little. Ianto smiled sadly, then turned back to jack. 'are you allright?' he asked him.

'me? honestly Ianto, your the one that's been stabbed and shot, not me! I'm fine, well, not fine. Happy to see you alive though I'll give you that!' he said. He bent down and kissed Ianto tenderly on the forehead. Jack stayed where he was for a few seconds, then withdrew when he couldn't take It anymore. He had almost lost the love of his life, and he wasn't going to let it happen again. He was about to tell Ianto as much, but when he looked down he saw that Ianto had fallen asleep, a contended smile on his lips, still holding on to jack and Owen's hands. Owen looked down at his hand, where Ianto gripped it tightly, and smiled. 'Gwen' he whispered. Gwen came forwards. 'you couldn't get me another cup of tea? I left the other one still in the vending machine!' Gwen smiled. 'of course, do you want one jack?' jack smiled.

'would you?' I would go, but....' he gestured lovingly at his hand, which was entwined with Ianto's. Gwen smiled and she and tosh went out to the coffee machine

There was silence in the room. Jack watched Ianto as he slept, he mentally noted all of his little snuffles and snorts, and he and Owen had to suppress friendly giggles as Ianto muttered in welsh in his dreams. After a while, jack looked across at Owen, who was tenderly clutching Ianto's other hand, and when he made sure that he was asleep, he leant into Ianto, and whispered to him. ' I love you Ianto jones, and I will for the rest of your life, and as many of mine as I will go through. You mean the world to me, and nothing can change that.' When he came up, he offhandedly looked in Owen's direction, and realised with a jolt that the Londoner wasn't sleeping at all, and had in fact listened to every word he had just said.

'do you mean it?' he asked.

Jack nodded. 'every word'.

Owen smiled, the settled himself into his chair, letting go of Ianto's hand to get himself straight, as soon as he sat back down again he took Ianto's hand in his, and settled down to sleep properly. Jack smiled as he watched, and when he looked to see if Owen was properly asleep this time, he turned back to Ianto, and sat and watched him dream, content in the silence.


End file.
